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Bunts and steals

Valencia High stole five bases in its 5-1 Foothill League win over Hart High of Newhall on Friday. Travis Amerian had four of them and freshman Christian Lopes had one.
Amerian was able to turn his steals into three runs as Valencia used its baserunners to distract Hart ace Mike Montgomery.
“Fos us, we gotta run,” said Valencia coach Jared Snyder. “We like to put pressure on guys. Gotta take the good with the bad.”
Every time Valencia attempted to steal a base, it turned out good.
Hart coach Jim Orzella said Valencia made his team struggle, drawing eight walks and making his pitchers work deep in counts with runners on base.
“Our game is dictated by the pitchers running the show,” Orzella said. “They exploited our pitchers and took advantage of that.”
As aggressive as Valencia was on the base paths, they played it a little conservative at times at the plate.
In the first inning, with runners at first and third with one out, Snyder had Tommy Ferndino, his clean-up hitter, bunt.
“It was his call,” said Ferndino, who lined out softly to the first baseman for the second out of the inning. “I have a lot of confidence in my pushes and drags.”
Evidently so does Snyder. With two outs and the bases loaded in the second, Snyder had Ferndino try to bunt again. This time he missed, then eventually struck out to end the inning.
When asked why he would let his No. 4 hitter bunt, twice, with runners in scoring position, Snyder said it’s just the way his team plays.
“We don’t have a four hitter,” said Snyder. “We haven’t had a four hitter since Jared Clark. It’s what we practice, putting pressure.”
Clark, who plays for Cal State Fullerton, hit .421 with 10 home runs as a senior for Valenca in 2004.

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